How to avoid tilting - good session preparations

Have you ever had a feeling that everything goes wrong, worse players just keep beating you and you are losing tons of chips, even if you play well? Does it make you a bit angry or frustrated? That feeling is called Tilt in poker and it happens for everyone. The difference between a pro and a random player is that pro's tilt doesn't last for long and they know how to handle it (ofc, Phil Hellmuth is an exception). I gathered here some hints to avoid tilting.

But first, why are we tilting? There could be plenty of reasons. One of the most common type of tilt starts when someone takes the pot, even if he was a big underdog. Maybe you had 80 % against him, but he managed to flop a hand that beats you. Or river is the one card that makes you lose the pot. Sometimes you are just tired and bored and you start to hit the pot button all the time, losing a big pile of chips. Tilting makes you play a lot worse than you would play otherwise. It is because strong emotions usually take a place in your working memory, which processes everything you do. When you have these strong emotions, you are not making good decisions as you don't use your whole knowledge of poke. In fact, you might even be in a gamble mode due to your tilt and you know that you shouldn't play that way. You just don't care.

Good ways to avoid tilt:

1. Good session preparations

One should always be ready to play poker. You have to take up a determinated state of mind to play your best poker. You are not going to play just for fun (it's a part of game, though), but you are there to make profit. If you are a random player who plays only for enjoy, you won't last for long. When you start your session it's also important that you are calm enough. As stated, strong emotions cause you play your B-Game or worse, so it's not a good idea. One shouldn't play poker when he is tired either, coz then you are not using your whole capacity.

2. Set your goals

One should always set up goals for their game. Both short- and long-term goals help you to play more solid and to play according to your plans. It makes you more motivated for playing and then you are less likelier to go on tilt.

3. Know WHY you tilted

It happens for everyone, but next time when you have a feeling that you are going to tilt, take a piece of paper and mark it up. Then stop playing for now. After that you should think of why you tilted. Was it a donk who just hit their 1-outer, or did you do something wrong? Anyway, if you know why you tilted, you are probably able to avoid the same spot next time. Understanding and processing own faults helps you to become a player who can control their tilt

There's plenty of more to come but that will be a task that I'll perform later. With these small guidelines you can already get started.

iPoker - network full of FISSHHH!

Well, I've abandoned (mostly) PS for now, because I have found that iPoker and ongame network offer a lot more fishy tables and maybe even more realistic hands. In PS, the application makes you suffer when ur on downswing (everyone makes bad beats for you, srsly). But here's my stats for iPoker:

This was imported by PT3 (which is free to try for 60 days, I'll recommend it!)

So what does this graph show and tell about my play?

It tells the normal: There's been some downswing (like at the mark of 2845 hands), and better times. But the key thing is that the graph line is going up all the time. It means that I'm being good enough at the level I play, so it means that I can go up soon. And I have had good cash control, because I haven't lost that much money even at DS.

Back to the stats. The most important thing isn't how much money I have won (at day or at month or overall), but the Big Blinds per 100 hand (BB/100). Having it close to 10, it means that I am dominating the current level. You can find your own level when your BB/100 is close to 2, when it means that you are winning but not beating the level. But this profit rate tells me that I'm doing well at this level.